Scotland vs. Sweden

No, this is not some kind of World Cup reference, but rather the apparent competition between two sites in Europe for a future Virgin Galactic spaceport. The British newspaper The Business noted in Sunday’s edition that Virgin Galactic has set its sights on Kiruna, in northern Sweden. Flights there would begin as early as 2011 and could feature flights through the aurora borealis. Because Kiruna is home to a sounding rocket range today, it has a number of benefits, including free airspace. There’s also, the article adds, the “Icehotel” near Kiruna, which, as the name suggests, is made entirely of ice and rebuilt each winter.

However, The Times of London, which briefly noted Virgin’s interest in Kiruna last month, said Sunday that Virgin is also looking at Scotland as a potential spaceport site. Like Kiruna, northern Scotland has relatively open airspace needed for suborbital flights to regularly take place. “It’s very likely that we will operate from northern Scotland in the future,” Will Whitehorn, a native of Edinburgh, told the Times.

The best part of the Times article, though, might be when Whitehorn is asked what it’s like to work with Richard Branson:

Suddenly Whitehorn’s speedy replies are sent into slow motion. He chooses his words carefully.

“Good question. Ehh, fascinating. Ehh, fun. Ehh, challenging,” he says, before finally launching into a description of the business tycoon.

“He’s fascinating to work for. He doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer very easily. But he does listen to people, even if he draws his own conclusions. He is charming, and doesn’t separate work and family. For him it’s all one thing. That’s very rare.”